I was wondering if any of you have ever played a Roland Blues Cube? I've have never even seen one. Does it sound like a tube amp? I like the idea of not having to replace tubes. If it sounds close to a tube amp I might try to hunt one down on ebay.

Yeh, I've got one of those Micro Cube's too, and it's neat for a little portable. But there were some discussions here awhile back about those Vox modeling amps with soundclips that were pretty impressive. Do a search in the archives for Vox amps.

[updated:LAST EDITED ON Feb-27-06 AT 07:34 AM (EST)]>I was wondering if any of you have ever played a Roland
>Blues Cube? I've have never even seen one. Does it sound
>like a tube amp? I like the idea of not having to replace
>tubes. If it sounds close to a tube amp I might try to hunt
>one down on ebay.

I have one of the Blues Cube30 210's (30w. /2 - 10" speakers). I think it sounds pretty darn close to tube. I bought it, as from the reviews I could find it was about as close to tube as you get with solid state. Mine has two channels, and one nice thing is that you can crank on the desired amount of "crunch" at any volume (I can get that overdriven sound that I would need to crank a tube amp all the way up to get, and it's very controllable).

The clean is clean, rich and creamy (I play a Oscar Schmidt OE30 w/humbuckers into it mostly). There is a "bright" button, that gives it a "blackface" character I am told which works well. There is a presence knob, and on the "dirty" channel you can mix clean/od sounds. Mine is quiet - very little buzz/noise. I think the stock speakers are pretty nice, and like the 210 arrangement. It's more than loud enough for me, but I don't do any gigs (but you could always mike it), but it's pretty loud for a 30w.

Does it sounds as "good" as a tube amp? That is a tough question ... there is a lot of difference between tube amp models, and even individual amps of the same model. I think it sounds better than some tube amps, and not quite as good as others. Then again, no tube headaches, and the ability to easily control the sound at any volume is really a plus for (my) practicing at home. My understanding is that the 60w model had additional features, but I am not familiar with that model. I suspect that the Blues Cube series was discontinued because it did not have the mass appeal and sales volumes/cost-wise did not compete with the standard "Cubes".

Appearance wise, if that matters to you - it's a handsome amp. Cream colored tolex, oxblood grill cloth, sturdy cabinet - very vintage looking. If I do get a tube amp at some point, I will probably hang onto this as well, it is a nice amp.

Note - the 30 does not have a reverb, I think the 60 has a spring reverb. Also I forgot to mention that this amp is very responsive to touch ... in other words if you have it set "dirty", and you play very lightly it's pretty clean, but if you start wailing on it it responds and gets dirty quick. Very reponsive to touch.

I have a BC60/310
I think it can approximate a tube amp pretty well; they let you dial in a lot of different variables. It is a tank, I think about 45lb or so. Maybe it's because I haven't found the exact mix on all the controls, but it doesn't seem to have presence of my Vibrolux reissue tube amp. But it doesn't have the hiss either.
Overall, I'm very pleased with it.
Lots of favorable reviews on Harmony Central as well.